“But something in him didn’t feel good to me. There was a difference between his words and his body language.” – Sharon McErlane in Our Love is Our Power, around p. 333

More about listening to the body. The Grandmothers tell us that if we feel uneasy about someone or don’t want to be near someone, then we can trust that feeling.

Yesterday I sat in meditation to work with the message of listening to the body. I first conjured up an image of a person or a situation, then listened to and watched my bodily reaction to that person or situation. One person/situation made me feel comfortable and relaxed, another inspired me to all kinds of different actions, and yet another made me feel angry. Righteously angry.

It was very interesting to see how my body revealed my deepest feelings about the things I experience and the people in my life. It helps me to understand those feelings as a kind of compass. The relaxed feeling points me to yin-comfort, a feeling of home. If I need comfort, I can go in that direction with that person. In contrast, another person inspires me to get up and move and get passionate about things. If I want to get inspired to action and passionately engage with life, I can go to that person instead of the comfortable-feeling person. The angry feeling, in this case, is a warning that I am giving away something important about myself – that I am feeling manipulated and powerless in a situation. And the feeling is not just my feeling, but the feeling shared by an entire group of people I am. We all share similar feelings of injustice, being manipulated and we are all feeling powerless to do anything about it.

With that clarity, thanks to my body’s honest messages, I now know what to do and where to go next. I know which actions to take, and where to go when I want to rest from taking action.

Today, try this exercise for yourself. Picture the important people in your life, and the situations that you obsess about (is it work? family? your future? your past?). Take one at a time. Using whichever senses work best for you, “picture” the person or situation, then connect with your body’s feeling. What does your body feel when faced with this person or situation? What actions does your body want to take? Which “direction on the compass” does that feeling represent?

Golden Eagle Feather

Golden eagle feathers are used in Native American ceremonies. The Grandmothers gave me the name "Golden Eagle Feather" before I knew anything about golden eagles. I'm growing into the name slowly. I offer my words here to anyone seeking love, rest and connection to the Divine.

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